Obscure facts ya know!

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True, because Alaska does not have counties, it has boroughs! Louisiana is the only other state that has something other than counties (it has parishes). With Alaska excluded, this means that the northernmost county in the US has to be in the Lower 48 states. Resting against the 49th Parallel, my home state of Washington would be a contender for having the northernmost county, since it is higher in latitude than the northernmost part of Maine. But then again, 5 states have a border with Canada along that latitude.

Only one state in the lower 48 pokes its head up above that latitude: Minnesota, at it's Lake of the Woods border with Canada.

That makes Lake of the Woods county the undisputed northernmost county in the US.

The county seat is Baudette, MN, which is south of the lake and adjacent to a land-border with Canada. The county is estimated to currently have less than 4,000 people living in it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_the_Woods_County

Thank you Sciuridae for spurring me on to investigate this.

The four English words country, land, soil, and earth all translate a single word in Finnish, maa. In most European languages (even Chinese) words that resemble ma/maa/mama mean 'mother.'

Edit. I have a feeling that I have brought up this earlier. If so, then I'm obviously obsessed by it.

The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line or HI line refers to the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. This electromagnetic radiation is at the precise frequency of 1420.40575177 MHz, which is equivalent to the vacuum wavelength of 21.10611405413 cm in free space. This wavelength or frequency falls within the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and it is observed frequently in radio astronomy, since those radio waves can penetrate the large clouds of interstellar cosmic dust that are opaque to visible light. The microwaves of the hydrogen line come from the atomic transition between the two hyperfine levels of the hydrogen 1s ground state.

The 1s ground state of a hydrogen atom is -13.60569253 electron volts. This splits symmetrically into two hyperfine states that have an energy difference of 0.00000587 eV.

Thus, the level of the lowest orbital energy state of atomic hydrogen arising from hyperfine splitting is -13.60569547 eV

This energy state arises from the spins of the proton and electron changing from a parallel to antiparallel configuration. This transition is highly forbidden with an extremely small probability of 2.9×10^−15 s^−1.

This means that the time for a single isolated atom of neutral hydrogen to undergo this transition is around 10 million (107) years and so is unlikely to be seen in a laboratory on Earth. However, as the total number of atoms of neutral hydrogen in the interstellar medium is very large, this emission line is easily observed by radio telescopes. Also, the lifetime can be considerably shortened by collisions with other hydrogen atoms and interaction with the cosmic microwave background.

Pizza was invented in America, not Italy.

It was known as 'Pizza Pie'.


Sylkat

Actually, NBC's Meet the Press is the longest running TV show on-air.

Sushi was an American invention too, or so I've heard. It was supposedly invented for the visit of a Japanese dignitary of some kind.

Oh, no!

WE are responsible for sushi?!

Fugu, a type of sushi, kills as many as 100 people per year.


Sylkat

Well, we didn't invent the Fugu fish; that lives around Japan. We invented it, but we weren't the only ones to develop it.

Icelandic delicacy called hákarl is rotten shark flesh. Eat raw and enjoy.

[img][640:446]http://www.vf.is/Images/Hakarl_njardarbraut_5_310111.jpg[/img]

Last edited by Krabo on 21 Jun 2013, 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Obscure Fact: The various species of Fugu Fish (Takifugu rubripes, Takifugu pardalis, Takifugu vermicularis, and Takifugu porphyreus) were not invented.

Dear Fnord,

Considering eating one of the most toxic living things in the world, and then developing a methodology to do so, is an invention ( of pure foolhardiness).

Obscure Fact:

The Beast of Gevaudan is (was?) the source of most European werewolf legends.


Sylkat

What the heck is the beast of Gevaudan? The south Europeans had to invent the werewolf to balance their lack of real wolves.

Dear Krabo,


Google 'beast ofGevaudan'.....it ate people, it behaved in a most unusual way, for an animal, there were major political and religious aspects to the case, and a rather remarkable film, 'Les Pactes De Loups', was made based on the time and place and SOME of the events.

It stars Vincent Cassell and Monica Bellucci, and is well worth watching, NOT for the purpose of figuring out what actually happened, however, but for entertainment.


Sylkat

*suspicious look*

Google and Wikipedia are your friends (Link to Article)...


... and ...


Notes:
* Ellipses ("...") indicate omitted text.
* Bolding is mine.

Obscure fact: On a recent episode of The Simpsons, Homer, Lenny and Moe go to Iceland and eat this very delicacy at a restaurant called "Yukki's Grossfud" or something of that nature. It is described as being "marinated in its own urine."

I should have clarified, the "it" in my 2nd sushi post refers to sushi, not Fugu. I do realize that fish species are not generally "invented"... yet.